Why Self Care?
Why Self Care?
Why self care, you ask? Well, it’s actually how all of this really started. When people ask me how I got into making nail polish, there’s an easy, digestible version of my story that I tell most of the time (you can find that on my ‘about’ page) because it’s nice and comfortable for any audience - and then there’s the raw, hard truth version that I let out once in awhile, that’s ugly and maybe even a little off-putting. But let me explain...
We’ll rewind a bit. The year is 2012, I am 20 years old, in my third year of college. I live in a quaint, cute apartment on the shores of Crystal Lake, in Beulah, MI. I have a managerial position at the local craft store downtown, and life was fresh and exciting - and as you can imagine, I took it all for granted as any 20 year old does…
That all changed on March 8, 2012. Without going into too much gruesome detail, my car was hit by another car that was going 70 mph. The engine block sat on my lap and I went in and out of consciousness as I was extracted from the vehicle with a pair of ‘the jaws of life.’ I suffered a traumatic brain injury and a lot of physical pain, cuts, broken bones, and bruises.
The circumstances of it all were overwhelming to say the least, and involved lawyers and court, and so much pain and grief. Needless to say, I lost it all. I couldn’t live on my own anymore and moved back home with my mom and dad, I lost my job, and I had to drop out of my college classes. I had to devote most of my time to therapies of all types: physical therapies, occupational therapy, brain and eye therapy, counseling, and countless other programs to gain my strength and motion back, let alone my happiness and confidence. My life had been squeezed like a lemon, and I was left drained and empty.
I finally got to a point where I felt some self worth again, established a new routine, and after a long day of attending appointments, I would find that I enjoyed some me-time painting my nails and pampering myself.
Painting my nails was a calming, therapeutic activity. I enjoyed going through my collection, reading all the nail polish color names on each bottle, sorting them different ways, and choosing the one to wear for the week. I would soak my hands and feet in a tub of warm water and bath salts, light a candle, pamper myself with a full manicure, and listen to my favorite music. It was before I had my first smart phone, so I would flip through magazines or read a book while I waited for my nails to dry.
Not long into that new routine did I find an article in a magazine one evening that warned of the toxins and dangers and risks of painting your nails. (I thought to myself, ‘You’ve got to be kidding?!’) The article talked of harmful chemicals like formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate, and toluene being found in nail polish. It was so disturbing and I was so afraid that I had been unknowingly exposing myself to all of this nasty stuff during my self care time.
Instead of quitting, I started researching. I got passionate about the topic and wanted to find out more about nail polish formulation. It gave me a new purpose and I remember staying up late at night combing through ingredients lists (what I could find, most brands didn’t openly share their ingredients publicly) - I dissected each ingredient’s purpose. I found out about how toxic conventional polishes are because they opt to use cheapest materials to turn a higher profit, and how they contain endocrine disruptors and carcinogens. Scary stuff!
I played around and figured out how to get the same (or some would even say better!) nail polish performance result, and I began making my own nail polishes with a safer, toxin free formula. And that’s how Northern Nail Polish was born.
So, why self care? Well, because it’s always been about that. It just took me almost 10 years to realize it.